Madden Ultimate Team Hands-On with Videos

[Steve_OS]

IGN has posted their hands-on preview of Madden Ultimate Team, along with a couple of videos here.

Quote:

"Okay, so it is true that you don't technically need to spend any of your own cash to build up your team, but it sure does make it easier. After every game you play you're awarded a certain number of coins which you can then spend on Ultimate Team cards. The problem is that the most coins that I've seen anyone get is around 100 and the cost of buying worthwhile card packs is insanely higher than that. For 9000 coins you can get a platinum pack (the best players in the game), for 3000 coins you can get a gold pack, for 1500 you can get a silver pack and then there's the lowly bronze which you should just steer clear of. If you play 15 games and do extremely well in all of them then you'll be able to buy one silver pack. That's a lot of Madden to play for a mid-level card pack. Of course you can always take the easy (and clearly more encouraged) way out and purchase the packs for Microsoft Points or money on PSN. The platinum pack will run you 240 Microsoft Points or about three bucks. It's also a bit strange to see the cards that work their way into some of the packs. I bought three platinum packs with Microsoft Points on the debug online service known as PartnerNet (where there is no real money being spent) and found that my core of receivers featured a classic version of Randy Moss and three other homers rated in the 50s and 60s. It's clear that skill position players are a bit tougher to come by than an awesome right tackle; I had five or six of those."

[Shinyhubcaps]

Why are some of the team cards with such outdated pictures? Charles Woodson one is with him in a Raiders jersey.

Anyway, sounds really expensive if you want to level up...

[Valdarez]

Will we be forced to download this onto our 360? Or will it be an optional DLC?

It's funny that EA spun this as giving it away for free. Just knew there had to be a catch, nothing is ever 'free', especially if EA Sports is in the mix. It's a good business model though, you give the core away for free and then have a PaYG model with the potential for reoccurring revenue. Sadly I believe we are going to see this more and more with EA games. Reoccuring revenue is the golden chalice for software companies, and Peter Moore has clearly indicated that's one of his goals for EA Sports. *sigh*

Still looking forward to this as it reminds me of APF2K8, but if you can't get a decent team together without paying real $$$ or playing Madden for 6 months, I'm not sure if I'll actually have the opportunity to enjoy it.

EA would have had a better chance of getting $$$ out of me by offering it as a real DLC at a reasonable price of 400 MS points, and then releasing player packs every so often to generate news items for Madden, as a way of maintaining interest in the game & this feature, and as a way of keeping sales of the Madden Ultimate Team DLC going. This is what I would have done based on the customer base who play the game. As it stands, I think fans are going to be unhappy about not being able to 'earn' their favorite players, and are not going to be happy about having to pay real $$$ multiple times to purchase various packs.

My .02 cents.

[granddogg]

valdarez .. dont you think it would be smart to play it first your skill level may be better and can get more coins faster.

[Exonerated]

This concept is a good idea. But 15 games for 1 silver pack is a lot of time. And these players have 'contracts' so they can only last for 3 or 4 games.

They need to make players permanent.

[pointNumberOne]

Play 90 games before you can get a *single* top-notch player, who you can only use for 4 games? That's ridiculous.

[Exonerated]

Quote: Originally Posted by pointNumberOne

Play 90 games before you can get a *single* top-notch player, who you can only use for 4 games? That's ridiculous.

Agreed. I'd understand if it was play 90 games, and have a topnotch player that you can use forever and progress. LIKE FIFA.

But this. I dunno. I simply do not understand.

[CreatineKasey]

Yeah I could understand like 30 games... but 90 is excessive. Most players will not reach 90 games total in this system and therefore will not ever get to use some of the better players available unless they pay.

I hope there's a leaderboard, though. That could be a lot of fun building your team and playing other built teams. I may like that a lot.